davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
l'crSpirinc Hands,

R. N, of Detroit, writes to the Jew elcrs' Weekly: "Thcrc is no general remedy for perspiring hands. A number of them have been suggested, among others the application of cold water, but all these arc apt to cndanger health. ] always was troubled with perspiring hands, and, although I employed every remedy I heard of or could think of, am still troubled with them. All articles of steel or iron which touched with my fingers were surs to rust next day, and during my apprenticeship my employer made it rule that should touch no watch parts, whether large or small, with bare fingers; and, when could not avoid doing 80, had to rub the parts at once with m oiled rag. In the same manner did he insist that I rub all my bench tools with an oiled rag every evening before laid them away, to which I am now so accustomed that 1 do it regularly from force of habit. find the practice an excellent one, for my tools and utensils always remain bright and c,ean, and many of my felow-workers consider them new and still unused. Thus, owing to the diligent use of the oiled rag, the perspiring of my hands has no baneful effects.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
A We'll Trained Collie.

A writer in the Boston Post says: "Visiting a friend who has young collie in process of education, l became dimly conscious of sound as of slamming doors. It began at a distance, as if each chamber had an occupant who wished to immure himself at that moment. It came nearer, and over our heads door after door was shut with bang. Then it was explained IS the collie burst into the room where I was sitting, and turn ing about, lifted his paw and vigorously closed the door by which he had entered before coming prou lily to his master for commendation. He had just acquired this accomplishment and learned that in his zeal he would make tour of the house, fl om attic to basement, closing in a conscientious manner all the doors he might find open before presenting him self either for meals or for introduce l tions.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
The "Back Log"

It will surprise many persons of the present day to be told that tho "back- log" of which we read so much in old time stories was large stone, a porous stone being preferred if possible. This stone was buried in the ashes, and on top was placed the "back stick" The back stone in those primitive times played a very important part in the economy of early housekeeping matches were not then invented; flint, steel and tow were th> only means of lighting a fire or lamp; imagine for moment the Bridget" of to-day thus engaged with the thermometer ten degrees below zero in the kitchen. Tho stone, together with the ashes with which it was cov- cred, served to retain fire and heat through the night, and all that was nec- essary in the morning was little kin ding and gentle use of the indispensa- ble bellows, and fire was as readily made as at the prese mt day.
 Back stones were not in much use in bedrooms and par lors after the beginning of this century, turf having taken it's place and served equally well, while taking up less space. The stone log in my possession and which belonged to my grandmother, and in use down to within few years of her death, half a century ago, is at the service of the Bos- ton Society if they should think it of sufficient importance. It is not less than 150 years old.- Boston Transcript.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
Chinese Dish cs.

Thero ar, some dishes that to Amcri- cans and Europeans, seem disgusting, others that are merely odd. Walking through the Chinese market in San Francisco, cue secs some very queer ar ticles of food for sale; small pats of soft cheese, vanished amber brown and stamped with Chinese characters; we'll peeled chestnuts, with tiny slices of white cocoanut wrapped in neat little cornucopias of glossy cabbage leaf; forty kinds of dried nuts, fruits, (who,e or sliced roots and barks.
 Then there arc living turtles and frogs; fowls and fish, alive, freshly dressed, and smoked or dried; meats, half cooked in the carcass; wrcaths of dried oysters strung on bamboo splints abalones, like black models for dolls hats; shrcds of white cutie fish, an l a | host of other edible curiosities, A stranger might suppose that they were simply curiosities, like the ancient sticks of barber pole candy exhibited In the dingy windows of a country grocery CT like the ham, elaboratcly decorated with geometrical puzzles in jelly, to be admired, but on no account 10 be carved. Not at all. They are regarded as eatable, and they arc eaten.
 In fact, tho Chinese and Japanese eats everything that comes out of the sea. All the fishes are good to their taste, and arc caught with great skill. Seaweeds of several sorts are sent far into the in- terior, to bo used in thickcning soups, gravies and buildings, and arc highly prized because they give a relishing flavor of salt, which is a luxury beyond the reach of most Chinese peasants, -
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20

Two years ago farmer in Phelps, N. r., died, leaving a widow, four chill dren, and an $500 mortgage on the farm. The eldest child, boy of ff- teen, set to work at once to try and carry on the farm, and, according to a local newspaper, he has succeeded re- markedly we'll. He has ploughed the fields, sowed, cultivated and reaped; he has sole charge of largo number of cattle and horses on the farm; he has managed retail milk business, and has himself marketed all of the farm pro- ducts. Last summer he found time after his work in the fields to paint the house twice over and to build five new fences. In tho winter he not only at- tends to the necessary work about the farm, but teaches country school three miles away, tells timber in the woods on Saturdays, and writes excellent letters to the local newspapers. The farm is not only out of debt and in splendid condition, but the lad and his mother have enough money on hand to buy twenty more acres of land.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
Tho Famous 6ems or Russia.

In tho early part of the present cen- tury the attention of geologists was di- rected to Eastern Russia as a probable ciamond region on account of its resem- b!ance, in some of its natural features, to Brazil. A few years later these gems were actually discovered by Humboldt and Rose, on the west side of the Uralian chain, in the gold bearing aliuvium on the banks of the river Adolfskoi, several feet above stratum containing fossil re. mains of the mammoth, which has led some eminent scientists to conclude that the diamond of this region was formed since the extermination of this gigantic mammal. Since their first discovery these precious stones have <been found scattered along the western declivity pf the Urals, but not in large numbers ayiR the mines of South America and South Africa.
 There is no country of modern times,
 unless it be Persia or Brazil, that has a more extensive collection of diamonds,
 and so many of remarkable size and
 beauty, than Russia, many of them ob- tained by conquest, treaty, purchase or inheritance. The display of wealth in this gem at the London exposition of 1851 was unsurpassed. Among the ex- hibits from that country were magnif- cent diamond comprising 1914 brilliants, 1712 rose diamonds, il very fine opals, and 67 rubies, besides a bouquet of dia monds made in imitation of the elegan- tine and the lily of the valley, and a wreath of diamonds representing the bryony bearing pear-shaped emeralds. It is reported that splendid necklace of twenty-two large brilliants, with pen dants composed of fifteen diamonds of large size, forms one of the treasures of the Winter Palace. -[ Jewellers Weekly.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
The Turkish Lent.

In an article on 'Life Beneath the Crescent" in the Cosmopolitan, Emile Julliard says:
 The Turkish Lent is much more severe than that observed in Europe, and the God of Stamboul is not. 80 lenient as that of Rome. He permits the eating of neither eggs nor fish. He does not, in fact, permit the eating of anything; for Mussulmans arc forbidden to eat and drink anything whatever from the rising until the setting of the sun, and that for twenty-cight consecutive days. It is forbidden even to smoke, to take snuff, to eat lozenges, to use purfumery, until a report of cannon, which is fired in the principal quarters at twilight, raises this tyranuical interdiction to re- establish it at the first gleams of dawn. The nights of Ra- mazan are spent in feasting and smoking (called Iftar), which atone somewhat for the austerirics of the day.
 As the Turks reckon time according to the lunar year, the months do not follow exactly the order of the seasons; and when Lent comes in winter, it is cx. tremely tolerable, for the days consc- crated to abstinence are short, and the nights devoted to feasting are long. But if Ramazan comes in midsummer, it is not at all convenient, and hunger as we'll as thirst makes protests tha, Mussulmanic piety does not always sue cced in sllencing.
 Fortunately the Turk is sleeper, and while he is asleep the Koran does not forbid him to dream that he i: feasting. But the most pressing wan of the Osmanli when he breaks his fast, is not to eat but to smoke hi chibouk. A domestic, attentive to tn, blessed signal, stands behind him witl his pipe filled and lit, and hardly ha the cannon flashed when the master without awaiting the report, takes hi first Whiff.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
Expensive Air.

They say that light and air arc free, don't they2" said Chicago book pub. fisher.
 ''Yes. That is long established principle" replied the gentleman ad- dressed.
 'Well, it ain't so."
 Not so2"
 "No, sir. Here, l hiro three agents on salary"
 "Yes"
 "Well, that makes about three thou sand dollars year that pay for wind, which is technically described as air in motion. Don't you suppose lcould go into court and compel tn, SC men to work for nothing?" Merchant Traveller.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
Consciousness After Decapitation.


 MT. Hayem has read an interesting communication before the French Acad- emy of Sciences upon the effect of trans. ferring the blood of the horse into the head of animals that have just been de- capitated. He finds, in the first place, that when the head of dog is suddenly severed from the body, the eyes fol some time execute motions of anxiety, the jaws forcibly open and close, the eyes afterward become fixed, the ncstrils dilate, tho labial commissures contract, and the tongue contracts to the back oi the mouth. A few seconds later, few respiratory efforts are remarked, and finally the head becomes inert. These phenomena, as whole, never last more than two minutes.
 If, as soon as the decapitation has been effected, the earotids are put ir communication with the cuoital artery of horse, the vital manifestations are observed to last for half an hour. Fi- nally, if the transfuson is not effected until the head has become inert, the va. rious vital manifestations mentioned above reappear, but definitely cease at the end of few minutes.
 Mir. Hayem concludes that the extinc. tion of will and sensation is very rapid, if not immediate Conscious life may, nevertheless, be prolonged for moment by trausfusion, when the operation is performed immediately after decapita- tion; but in the case of the recall to life of an inert head, nothing but automatic motions, without any trace of will, or consciousness even. can be nerceiYed.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
, HUMOROUS,
A hand organ-The thumb.

A hand organ-The thumb.
 The cook is the proper party to hold tho steaks.
 Fishing smacks are used in angling for a husband.
 Is a woman loudly dressed when her garments rustic as she walks7
 The strike among matches is slowly subsiding as the days lengthen.
 The blacksmith is the worst kind of a bore. He can make a wheel tired.
 There may be more ways than ono to kill a cat, but one is quite enough for one cat.
 There arc a great many things that cause man to drink, and one of them is thirs4.
 The small boy at his spelling lesson is like Q postage-stamp: he often gets stuck on letter.
 'Luxurics are high this year," said the small boy as he climbed for the preserves on the upper shelf
 "Heavens! Look therew "Where7" ''There-that messenger boy running.' ''Sh-h! It's his regular meal time."
 It doesn't always follow that because Q woman has tender heart she is will ing to take up with the first tender.
 When asked to pay, but this reply
 Toms creditor can get:
 ''1f time is money why can't
 Take time to pay my debts"
 A naturalist recommends eating raw onions for insomnia. The theory probably is that you will go to sleep to avoid smelling your breath.
 "Ah! my dear" said gallant lover to his sweetheart, ''you always remind mo of lock and key" "Why so9' ''Bc- cause you are something to adore"
 A fashionable note says that tho new style of cuffs arc worn very close to tho wrists. That is the way that old style hand-cuffs have always been worn.
 Little man-I understand, sir, that you have called mo an unmitigated lari Big man. No, didn't use the word ''unmitigatcd." Little mar-Then l ac cept your apology.
 When the youth of the period is at his desk in the store m hour seems about ninety minutes in length, but when he is at his girls house in the evening its duration does not seem more than fifteen minutes.
 In Hoods last illness, when he was wasted to a shadow, a mustard poultice was to be applied to his chest. "Ah, doctor," said tho poor patient, smiling faintly, '.it is great deal of mustard to so little meat"
 A lady who had had her photograph taken was showing it 10 her husband. 'Do you think it looks like mew she asked. "Ycs," he said, after critical examination, "it looks like you, only it seems very quiet"
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
The Birds Nest SwIftlet.

The true edible birds nest swiftlet is native of c: :ylon and the Malay region, and it builds in caves where materials for architecture are necessarily scanty, or on sea cliffs of inaccessible height. More than most other swifts, this tropi- cal species is confirmed high flyer, hawk ing for its food around the summits of the mountains and much indisposed to settle on the ground on any pretext. Hence it has learned to carry to the furthest possible limit the family habit of making a nest quite literally, "all out of its own head" without the slightest extraneous aid of any sort.
 The best and cleanest nests, which fetch the highest price, are composed entirely of pure mucus from the salivary glands. The material in its hardened state is brittle, fibrous, white and trans parent. livery like pure gum arabic, or even glass;" and the inner lining consists of nothing but small soft feathers. In fcrior nests, which command a smaller price in the Chinese markets, are com posed in part of dry grasses, hair and down, welded together by the tibrous gummy secretion. In short, as MT. Darwin bluntly puts it, ''The Chinese make soup of dried saliva" This sounds horrid enough, to be sure, but when we ourselves give up coloring jellies with defunct cochineal insects, it will be time for us to cast the first stone at the Orien- tai cuisine. -[ Cornhill.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
A Pathetic Story.

A writer in the Pall Mall Gazette re- calls the late Philip Bourke Marston's brief love-story. Blind from boyhood, when he was still young man hc be- came engaged to beautiful young lady, and the time of their wedding was neal at hand. They were together in the parlor one day. Suddenly he noticed that she no longer spoke to him. He called her, but there was no reply. He groped about the room in search of her, found her upon the sofa, and put his hand upon her face, only to find that she was dead of heart disease.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
Before and After.

Young wife-'I know very well, mother, that my husband no longer loves me-"
 How do you know it, my daughte. ?"
 ''You know he belongs to a fire com- pany9"
 "Yes."
 "Well, before we were married, when we were courting and the fire bell rang, he never went to the fire. He said that he would rather pay the fne."
 "Well, what does he do now?"
 "Why, now, at the very first sound oi the bell, he says duty calls him, and he is off and away in three shakes of . sheep's tail. "-[Texas Siftings.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
VOL. XVI.
Make Your Mark.

Make Your Mark. In the quarries should your toil.
 Make your mark: Do you delve upon the soil,
 Make your mark; In whatever path you so. In whatever place you stand, Moving swift, or moving slow, With a firm and honest hand
 Make your mark. Should opponents hedge your way
 Make your mark; Work by night or work by day,
 Make your mark: Struggle manfully and well, Let no opstacles oppose, None, right shielded. ever fell By the weapons of his foes,
 Make your mark. What though born a peasant son,
 Make your mark; Good by poor men can be done,-
 Make your mark; Peasants garbs may warm the cold Peasants words may calm fear, Better far than hoariing gold Is the drying of tear,
 Make your mark. Life is ieeting as shade,
 Make your mark; Marks of some kind must be made,
 Make your mark. Make it whil, the arm is strong, In the golden hours of youth Never, never make it wrong, Make it with the stamp of truth,
 Make your mark.
 DAVID BARKER
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20

In a suit tried recently in California court to recover damages from doctor for alleged malpractice in treating an in- iured limb, Judge Presby gave, in his charge, the following clear definition oi physicians liabilities in such cases: "A physician of ordinary skill, exercising ordinary skill and care in his diagnosis, n never liable for any injurious conse- quences which may result from mere errors of judgment, if he has honestly and carefully used such means as in his best judgment are deemed necessary"
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20

According to Washington cores pondent, there is in the Patent Office a lady clerk whom everybody declares tc closely resemble the Presidents wife. She was in store short time ago, where she accidentally encountered Mrs. Folsom. The latter is said to have started as though very much surprised, and inquired of one of the clerks: "Whc is that young lady who looks SO much like my daughter, Mrs. Clevcland2' Since it has gotten out that the Patent Office lady so much resembles the Presi. dents wife, the room in which she is employed is one of the most attractive in the whole bureau. People go cut of their way in order to make it convenient to call there on some pretcxt or other, and when she appears in one of the cor. riders she is at once the exposure of every eye.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20

There is not an unmarried woman in Turkey who can both read and write the Turkish language, and there are but few men who are able 10 do so. It requires ak years of hard study to acquire these accomplishments. When you hear ol Turk with \the title of bey prefxed tc his name you may know he is one of the few educated mon in that country, as the title is only conferred upon those who can both read and write.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
Bruin's FOndness for Honey.

There is one enemy the California bee keeper has to guard against that his eastern brother knows nothing about writes correspondent of the New York Commercial. This is the grizzly bear. Bruin is very fond of young calves and colts, and thinks nothing of eating two or three tender lambs by way of an ap- pctizer in the morning. Besides this, he has a very sweet tooth, and the amount of honey and bees that he will eat for lunch is surprising. A bear will make light of demolishing half dozen hives in a night and devouring all their contents. A neighbor of the writer's found one morning that during the night a bear had come down the mountains close by. All that was left of four or five hives was lot of chcwed up sticks hardly fit for kindling wood. He filled large milk pan with some very tempt tug honey, seasoned highly with strych- nine, and put it close to the gap in the fence by which the bear had entered. Next night the bear returned with two companions. When they reached the broken fence, there was the honey already for them, and it did not take them long to dispose of it. But soon after swallowing the dclicacy they lost all interest in honey and started on a search for water. Next morning when the kind and thoughtful bee keeper opened his door there lay three enormous grizzlies near the watering trough, stiff and cold in death. A paw of one of them, with claws as long as boys fingers, was given to the writer as a keepsake.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
Arbitration.

Are you goin to strike ma7' asked the little boy as he tremblingly gazed on the uplifted shingle.
 "That's just what Pm going to do."
 Cant we arbitrate, ma, before you strike2"
 q am just going to arbi,rate," she said, as the shingle descended and raised cloud of dust from the panta- looms. II am just going to arbitrate, my son, and this shinglc is the board of arbitration, Boston Courier.
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20

The French are aboutto celebrate the fftieth anniversary of |the introduction of railways into their Country, and the event has led to the production of many statistics, fox, the most part interesting.
 and some of tbem very surprising, re- gardiug the railway business. Estimates have been made of the,enormous amour. of money that has boon expended throughout the world in tho construc- tion and equipment of railroads. In these figures, the United States naturally stands at the head. The railroads of this country have cost, it is estimated,
 sixty eight hundred million; those of England, thirty-six hundred million those of France, twenty-fo four hundred million; those of Germany, twenty-five hundred million; those of Austria, six teen hundred million; and those of Rus. sia, twelve hundred million dollars
 The sum that would be reached by adding the tetal of expenditure in countries ot less importance than those named would be quite too large for the mind to grasp
 although it might be computed 1T figures MT. Mackerson, of London, ha' perhaps come nearest to the comprehen- sible estimate of this great amount by calculating that it would require fort, powerful locomotives, all in a row, t' draw the treasure, in silver dollars which the railroads of the world hav l-
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
It is intended to hold an internationa.

It is intended to hold an internationa. congress on cri imation in September of the present year 1h, place selected for the gathering4 of these savants oi various countries Nho are interested in cremation and cent stcry hygiene is Mi. fan, Italy. French will be the official language of the congress; but the speak CTS, may, if they like make use of any other language. R,ports will be sub mitted as to the progress made in the practice of cremation in different coun. tries, and the formation of an inter national league will be proposed. An exhibition of models of crematories, urns, and other objects connected with the campaign now being conducted against the present methods of dispos- ing of the dead will be open during the congress
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20

Boys as we'll as girls arc becoming skilled in cooking in one of the indus trial schools of the American Female Guardian Society in New York. The lessons are printed on cards, which the children receive one by one at the close of successive exercises, and forming q useful set of receipts at the end of q course, ~ss.s
Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
S (. BECKLEY, Editor and Proprietor.
Local News O Speciality.
TERlISs

''The Ameer of Afghanistan has sum- moned tho muftis and ordered them to proclaim jehad against Russia. This rips the yashmak off of his designs, and soon we shall hear, perhaps of his way ing the sanj, K in the jehad, bedad." !" This is the way the Springfield (Mass.) Union mixes metaphors and lingoes.